Graduation - One Year Ago...

Congratulations to my nephew Brandon who recently graduated from high school and was sworn into the US Army Reserves.  As the youth of America don caps and gowns all over the country and seniors rake in the graduation gifts of cold hard cash from friends and family, I'm reminded of one year ago, when the family was in Busan, Korea at the Busan Foreign School Graduation Ceremony.

The Principal (and good friend), Mr. Scott Jolly with opening remarks.

CJ and his friend, Tevin, trotting to the stage to accept their leadership awards for the 5th grade.  These guys were pretty tight.

Here's Jake receiving the Student of the Year award for Pre-Kindergarten.  Umm, I think he was a little happy.  Now that's a smile.

Jake is in the middle of the picture high-fiving his teacher, Ms. Amber Newton.  Couldn't have asked for a better teacher.

Carol presented some awards from the PTA to some deserving students.  She also received a plaque of appreciation from the school for her efforts throughout the year.  I was proud to say that I was the husband of the PTA President.

I was very honored to give the commencement speech.  As with most things, Carol gave me some good advice on the content of the speech.  Here's the speech itself:


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Mr. and Mrs. Haddon, Principal Jolly, faculty and staff, parents, students, and most importantly, the 2010 graduating class of Busan Foreign School, I am very honored to be speaking to you on this special occasion.

I have to admit that when I was in your seat during my own high school graduation 23 years ago, I really wasn’t paying attention to the guest speaker.  I honestly don’t even remember who the speaker was.  Like many of you, my mind was somewhere else – the future, college, what do I want to do with my life? – those kind of heavy thoughts.

Well, in an effort to stay somewhat current, I’d like to share with you some of the heavy thoughts that are on people’s minds right now.  Please raise your hands if you have a Facebook account.

So here are some of the different status comments from some of my own Facebook friends from the last couple of days.  Maybe you can relate to some of these comments:

So... am I the only one that has absolutely no idea what to do now that we're done with school...?

dude i woke up this morning all happy alone in my house, and now im like, now what?


Only 6 days of school left and then I leave BFS forever...sad

Trying to find a job is the hardest thing I have EVER done in my life! I think getting the degree was the easy part...they don't tell you about the "REAL WORLD"... PRAYERS ARE NEEDED

So some of you might be feeling this same apprehension, excitement and anxiety.  And that’s normal.  The future can be a very daunting thing.

With the future in mind, I’d like to pass on to you one thing that I think is extremely important as you begin your new adventure of college, a new job or even living in a new country.  And that thing is FOCUS.  Focus is one of the key things that will get you to where you want to be.

Being a Navy brat and growing up next to a military jet base, I knew in high school what I wanted to do with my life – I wanted to fly jets for the Navy.  There were many days in high school where I would doze off in class, only to be woken up by the thundering sound of the Navy jets flying overhead.

And so I worked real hard in college and was commissioned as a Naval Officer after graduation from the Virginia Military Institute.  I was also fortunate enough to earn an aviation slot and so off to Navy flight school I went.  Flight school was one of the most difficult things I’ve ever done in my life.  Unfortunately, a lot of my buddies didn’t make it through flight training.  Some of them were hitting the nightclubs a little too much and not studying nearly enough.  Some were distracted by personal issues, money issues and other things.  Many people simply weren’t cut out for the training – whether it was the grueling physical demands, the academics or putting it all together in the airplane.  A lot of good people didn’t make it through.  And I was almost one of those people.  But if there’s one thing that I can point to that helped me to make it through this challenge – it was my FOCUS.  I always had my eye on the prize and I wasn’t gonna let anything get in the way of reaching my goal.  Instead of hitting the beach, I spent extra hours in the flight simulator.  Instead of watching TV, I was memorizing my emergency procedures and rehearsing my flights.  I was gonna do whatever it took to reach my goal.

I learned about focus early on from various role models, including my boxing coach in college.  When I was boxing, it was only when I was truly focused that I was able to achieve the highest levels in my sport. 

I’d like to share a story with you about focus.  My current boss grew up in Hawaii.  He tells me about a guy he knew in high school in Hawaii by the name of Barry.  Now, Barry loved to play basketball.  And he was pretty good too.  He worked hard at his game and had aspirations to be a professional basketball player.  The thing is, he was a decent player compared to the small crowd in Hawaii, but when he had tougher competition in college, he came to the realization that professional basketball was not in his future.  As much as Barry focused on his game, he knew it wasn’t gonna be a long term thing.

But that focus and determination that Barry had – it was an impressive thing.  You see, with the proper focus, you can do anything you set your mind to.  Nothing will get in your way.  Without focus, well, that’s where you can lose your way.

The reality is many of you will finish up college and go on to be presidents of companies, community leaders, raise families, make lots of money and do great things.  This will happen.  I have no doubt.  And your focus on your goals will be one of the common themes behind your success. 

The thing is, there will be distractions along the way – temptations that sidetrack you away from your goals – partying, girls (I should know, I married one), video games, TV shows, downright laziness and even homesickness – while none of these things are necessarily bad, if you allow them to become major distractions and you lose focus, then they become terrible things.  These are some of the same distractions that are the downfall of many professionals – famous actors with drug problems, professional athletes with domestic abuse issues, politicians with extra-marital affairs or corruption…pick up any newspaper and it’s on the front page - many high profile people losing focus.

With a strong focus on your goals though, nothing will stand in the way of what you want.  Let me get back to the story about Barry.

You see, as hard as Barry worked on basketball, it just wasn’t in his future.  But Barry was a focused person.  And after basketball didn’t work out for him, he used that incredible focus in another part of his life.  He got into politics.  And he did real well at that – and I mean really well.  Now, Barry wasn’t his real name.  That’s what people called him in high school.  But now, most people know him as Barack.  President Barack Obama.

Let me point out one other thing about focus.  You shouldn’t set your focus on small, easy goals.  You don’t need a lot of focus to achieve small things.  Don’t limit yourself.  Set your sights high and go for it.  Earlier, I mentioned my desire to fly.  I didn’t say I wanted to fly just propeller airplanes or helicopters.  I wanted to fly the best.  I wanted to fly jets.  And that’s what I went for and that’s what I got. 

During my boxing days, I didn’t compete for second or third place.  I aspired to be the very best – to be the national boxing champion for the entire country, and that’s what I achieved. 

I challenge each and every one of you to not settle for mediocrity.  Aspire to be the very best and use that focus of yours to get there.  Don’t settle for just “good enough.”  Go for it.  Knock the bottom out of everything that you do. 

That average stuff – that’s for the other schools.  That’s for the ISB graduates.  You come from the Busan Foreign School.  This is the place where students score perfect on the SAT.  This is the place where the students get accepted to the most elite colleges and universities in the world.  This is where the teachers challenge their students to do their very best.  I can’t tell you how proud I am to have my boys going to the Busan Foreign School.  As a Navy family, we move around a lot and have experience with many different schools.  Busan Foreign School is by far, the very best.

And so, Graduates of the class of 2010 – I’ll close by saying that you should be beaming with pride over this great school that’s now a part of your history.  Like Barry did, I challenge you to represent your school well.  Congratulations to each and every one of you on achieving this major milestone of graduation.  I wish you tremendous success in your personal and professional lives.  Stay focused and do great things.  Thank you so much for your time today.

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All in all, it was a very memorable day for the family.  The graduation ceremony capped off an outstanding school year.  We really can't say enough great things about Busan Foreign School.  For those new graduates and their families - congratulations to you all.  Enjoy this special occasion.  For the BFS faculty, students and family that are moving on to new adventures, to include the Jolly's, Allen's and other friends we've had the pleasure of spending time with, we wish you the very best on the future.  You've got friends in the Cruz's.

Choose Cruz!

It was quite the transition for CJ, leaving the academically challenging yet cozy and comfortable environment of Busan Foreign School for the relatively massive southern school in Tennessee where "fitting in" far outweighed the reading, writing and 'rithmetic on many occasions.  There were definitely bumps in the road for our sixth grader this past year.

Part of that I'm sure was because the Busan Foreign School that the boys attended for the last two years in Korea was so dang awesome.  The teachers were incredible, CJ had many like-minded friends and the social aspect was nothing to fret about.  It was much more innocent and carefree than what you see in the US.  At BFS, a male student could wear a Tom and Jerry cartoon shirt, orange pants and carry around a notebook with unicorns on it and no one would care.  He could wear these same clothes three days in a row and no one would care.  That would get you beat up in Tennessee, or at least ostracized from the cool inner circle of popular kids.

Don't get me wrong.  Arlington Middle School is a high quality school.  Their screening process for the gifted program is thorough, the teachers are caring and conscientious about students' learning and the facilities are very nice.  Lots to like and one of the reasons why we moved into our neighborhood.  But with any move, there's always transition.  Being the new kid can be tough.

So my chest was puffed out when CJ was recently voted by the school body to be next year's Student Council Vice President.  Proud Dad moment!  Carol and I knew it would just take a little time to adjust.  And adjust he did.

He ran a great campaign - cool posters and buttons, a really nice speech, help from his buddies and neighbors and even some online ground swell that might've impacted his campaign.  And of course a catchy slogan - CHOOSE CRUZ!

All of the campaign posters had to be approved by the school before going up.  CJ had no problem with any of his posters except for this controversial gem:

I haven't been keeping up with Charlie Sheen's verbal diarrhea and the whole "winning" comments he made.  I do understand why the school didn't approve this poster though.  Charlie Sheen probably isn't the role model you want the future of America to emulate.

A funny thing happened though.  The kids on the bus liked the poster and took pictures of it with their phones.  And they started spreading it out - emails, text and Facebook.  Isn't that how Obama got elected?  Well, maybe replace Charlie with Oprah and it would be more accurate.

Anyway, I'm very proud of my skinny, Filipino kid.  CJ actually used skinny, Filipino kid in his speech and got some laughs.  Now that he's elected, he'll make all of your dreams come true. If you don't know what that means, you need to Netflix Napoleon Dynamite today.  Hope you have a "winning" day!

Favorite Things About Korea - Part II

Although life out here in the Far East can be a little strange compared to hanging out in the good ol' US of A,  there are many, many things to like about being here in Korea.  I did a previous post on some of those things.  The first list included:

- my team at MSCO Korea
- bulgogi
- optional red traffic lights affectionately called "might lights" cause you "might" stop at them
- cheap taxi fares
- Asian pears
- clean subway
- police rarely give out traffic tickets
- kimchi
- coffee shakes
- paper lamps
- spicy octopus
- the many sights in Busan
- people respecting their elders

Here's a few more items to add to the list:

- Our church.  We go to the English service of Sooyoungro Antioch International Ministries (AIM).  Great people there and a very diverse crowd.  We recently attended a wedding of two of our friends that met from the church.  There were over 20 countries represented at their wedding reception.  Pretty cool.

The music is awesome at AIM.  The English service is in a brand new building in Suyeong.

I volunteer to do the Children's message near the beginning of the service.  I really enjoy doing that with the kids.  The things that come out of their mouths!

The Children's ministry started out with 5 kids.  Here I am doing the Children's message with 16 kids.  Now it's up to 40+.  Pretty cool.

- Nice toll booth workers.  They dress up, smile and actually give you a greeting.

- Samgyupsal.  This stuff is awesome!  You take this very tasty grilled pork, throw it in a lettuce leaf, add some sauce, garlic and kimchi and you've got the perfect bite of food in your mouth. There's something about that grilled kimchi.  Samgyupsal is kinda fatty but man is it tasty.  Even CJ, a very picky eater, likes this stuff.  That tells you something.

- Girls holding hands.  Here's a pic of Carol and Ms. Sin from the Korean American Busan Association (KABA) holding hands.  Sometimes when Carol is around some of my staff, they'll unknowingly hold Carol's hand.  I think it's very cute.  Ms. Sin is great, btw.  Although we can only speak a handful of words to each other, we still have a blast together.  She's a dancing machine too.

- Gotta love all the high heels.  Check these out:

High heels at a museum.

High heels at a temple.

High heels at another temple.

And high heels even on the beach.  I've even seen girls wearing high heels in the sand at Haeundae Beach.  That's what you call dedication to fashion.

- The kissing camera at sporting events.

Here's how the kissing camera works at basketball or baseball games.  When the kissing camera is on, the two random people they spotlight on the big screen TVs are supposed to kiss each other, whether they know each other or not.  Laughter from the crowd ensues.  Depending on the enthusiasm of the kiss, a restraining order might follow as well.

- Inexpensive car wash/wax.  Only 25,000 won (about $22 US)  to get your car washed, waxed and vacuumed at Homeplus, and that's for an SUV.  Excuse me, 24,000 won.  It costs an extra 1,000 won for them to shampoo Jake's car seat.  Can't beat it with a stick.

- Blazing fast internet.  South Korea used to be the most wired country in the world.  If I have my facts straight, Singapore is now #1.  Still, pretty smooth sailing on the internet.

- 24 hour McDonalds and home delivery.

I really shouldn't have this one on the list because we have yet to take advantage of Mickey D's after hours or called out for delivery.  

I gotta share this next thing with you cause it's so dang funny.  A little sad but pretty dang funny.  This is an actual Facebook update from a friend out here in Busan:  

"As if I didn't feel guilty enough ordering McDonald's, I find out that my order is over an hour late because the delivery boy had an accident with his scooter and was sent to the hospital.  Dang!  At least he is okay...and the food was hot."  I busted a lung over that one.  I do hope the delivery boy is okay though.  BTW, Koreans on scooters - not one of my favorite things.

- Dry cleaning is delivered to your house.  Nice.

- Cheerleaders at sporting events.

Cheerleaders at a Lotte Giants baseball game.

Cheering at a Sonic Boom basketball game.  Where are the blondes?

- Busan Foreign School.  A lot to like about the school.  CJ's been lamenting lately how there's no way his next school can hold a candle to BFS.

- Doenjang chigae.  Carol and I both love this spicy soup.  It's served piping hot with white rice on the side.  It's got tofu, veggies and sometimes, seafood in the soup.  The base is made of bean paste.  I'm really hoping Carol learns how to make this soup before we leave.

- Cherry blossoms.  Just gorgeous.  Wish they could stay longer.

Cherry blossoms with our building in the background.

- Spending time with the kids at the orphanage.  Those little ones are just a ball.

These pics are from a recent ice cream party we had with the kids.  That's Set Byul in the middle, the half Russian, half Korean girl.

- Movies are inexpensive and the concession stand prices are reasonable too.  You pick your seats when you purchase tickets.  This way, you don't have to stand in an extra line to grab a good seat for a popular movie like you do in the US.

- The overall innocence and cuteness of it all here in Korea.  Here's an example:

You can wear hats like this, no problem.

This guy was wearing this hat and his buddies weren't even laughing at him.  Very common.  Couples wearing matching outfits, girls holding hands in public, the popularity of cartoon t-shirts and Hello Kitty gear are other examples of the cuteness and innocence of Korea.

- When picking someone up from the airport, you can just park your car right in front of the terminal and just leave it there.  I'm sure it's illegal but no one messes with you.

- We can step out our front door and walk to the world's largest department store, visit the Museum of Modern Art with pieces from Monet, Renoir, Van Gogh, Picasso and other masters, partake in a luxury spa, geek out at the Apple store, run to Haeundae Beach and APEC Nurimaru Park or grab McDonald's for the boys and Korean food for me and Carol right across the street.

Yeah, we're gonna miss Korea.

Toga!

Carol and I are pretty social creatures.  We enjoy having people over the house and have been known to throw a party or two.  Almost a year ago, I talked about throwing a toga party.  Carol's response was, "You can't throw a toga party in Korea!"  Those at my work know that you shouldn't tell me that I "can't" do something.  The "can't" word is supreme motivation for me.  Unbeknownst to Carol, the gauntlet was thrown down.  And yes, I did feel a little funny about typing the word, "unbeknownst."

The thinking went like this.  What type of event would attract a lot of people in Busan?  Beknownst to me (okay, I'm getting carried away with that word and it's derivatives), there's a large English teacher population here in Busan.  We thought a toga party would be something the Busan crowd could sink their teeth into.  And of course, the Naval Aviator in me thought what the heck - toga party!

So there's some of the background behind last Friday's fundraiser.  The main reason for throwing the party of course was to raise money and awareness for the two causes I wrote about in my  most recent blog post - the Sung Ae Won Orphanage and Habitat For Humanity.

Mission accomplished.  Over 400 people attended the big toga party fundraiser last Friday at the Novotel Ambassador Hotel in Haeundae Beach.  We had people travel from Daegu and as far away as Seoul.  We raised over 9 million Korean won (about $8,000 US dollars) for these two organizations.  This money will go a long way towards improving the quality of life for the children at the orphanage and some people in difficult housing situations.  People have already told me that we have to do this again next year.  I will definitely pass that on to my replacement.

Busan's English radio channel, eFM did a radio interview with me about our two causes and the fundraiser.  That's Ashley Kim, a radio personality from eFM.  She was incredibly nice.

Bobby McGill on the left is the Editor of Busan Haps Magazine.  This is a great magazine for foreigners.  I wrote an article for the magazine to help get the word out about our two causes and the big event.

The party was held in the Novotel Ambassador Hotel.

The hotel is right on Haeundae Beach.  From the Grand Ballroom, we had a nice view of the ocean.

Here's the banner in front of the hotel.

And finally, some party pics!  I wasn't exactly sure how many folks would come in togas.  As the night progressed, there were definitely a lot more togas than non-togas.  We did attract our normal suit-wearing crowd, which was expected.  Here are some of the MSCO Korea crew looking good in their Greek gear..

Lots of dancing and only a couple of wardrobe malfunctions.  I thought I saw someone's tonsils once.

That's me, Kristin, Nick and Maria.  We couldn't have done it without the help of some awesome folks like these three.  Initial setup, decorations, prepping food, tending bar, manning the door, selling raffle tickets, running the coat check, etc.  There was a lot of behind the scenes actions to make this thing happen.  Thank you so much MSCO Korea, Busan Foreign School, DK, Pier 8, Busan Storage Facility, Costco, Commissary, Chinhae MWR, USO, BOSS, Navy League and all of the other volunteers and donors.  You guys rock!

Tessa is the Habitat For Humanity Coordinator for BFS.  She's also CJ's Science Teacher.  She's a tough teacher but we wouldn't have it any other way.

Definitely the most creative togas of the evening.  The Jolly's came as the Canadian Bobsled Silver Medalist and of course Princess Leia.  Total awesomeness.  May the force be with you.

We were honored to have the Director of Sung Ae Won Orphanage say a few words.  A very sweet lady.

Sal won an iPod during the blindfolded musical chairs game.  Sharon is one of the nicest people you'll ever meet.

Carol and Ms. Kang looking like precious metals.

Mr. Im surrounded by interns.

Wendy, Carol and Kemmeh.  As always, the ladies were looking really good.

Bunky, XO of MSCO Korea and Commander Melinda Michael, XO of Expeditionary Port Unit 111.  It's the Executive Officer (XO) picture.

That's David Kim on  the left.  He did some heavy lifting to make this fundraiser happen.

Ice luge!

Double ice luge.

Thank you USO for your support!

Yum.  Wine in a box.  Hey, we had 400+ people to entertain.  Cut me some slack.

The beloved Filipino Group.  One thing about our Filipino Group from church is that you don't need anything at all to have fun with them.  Get three of them together and it's all laughs and an instant party.

Donning a toga for the kids.  For the kids man!

Frances and Derek - we're gonna miss you!  So is the Fuzzy Navel.

The smile on this guy's face is because he just won the grand prize - 500,000 won.  We raised a nice chunk of change from the raffle tickets.

Here's Steve winning the Best Toga contest.  He had the home crowd (Busan Foreign School) rooting for him.  Congrats!

Surrounded by some exotic Cleopatras.

Members of the Korean American Busan Association (KABA).  Thank you so much for your support!

Mr. Yun and Technical Sergeant Daisy Galan.  She was a finalist for Best Toga.

Amber is on the left.  She helped out a bunch with the party decorations, raffle tickets and other things.  You should check out her article in the latest issue of Busan Haps.  Here's the link:  Underground Art

Ms. Yi is the Vice President of People To People International.  Her organization does a lot of great things in the community, including supporting North Korean refugees.

Okay, I admit it.  I was vexed by the amount of body hair on some of the dudes.  Some of those guys don't need to spend a cent on sunblock during the summer.  Just saying.

At the end of the night, there were folks jumping rope, playing football with wigs and other interesting acts.  Folks didn't want to go home!  

Kemmeh and Emmekah

I'm reminded of the Academy Awards.  "And I'd like to thank..."

Just a great night!

I'm a huge fan of doing something you've never done before.  For many of the Korean guests, this was their first time donning a toga.  For all those college grads out there that never had a chance to attend a toga party as a student, this was the perfect opportunity for some college redemption.  Those people can now say that they've truly graduated.  For many, the toga thing was old hat.  Some looked incredibly natural in this environment, as if they were Julius Caesar himself.  BTW, such a great historical figure and he gets a salad named after him.  Sheesh.

There was the wallet that was lost.  Then found.  Then lost.  Then found again.  There was the girl who punched her boyfriend and was wondering why she was all alone.  The bananas in the elevator, the upside down ice luge and the Cape Jacob boys having a great time.  It was definitely a memorable night.  Lots of fun while helping out two important causes.

Our adventure in Korea never ceases to amaze me.  Just when you think it's a pretty conservative country, it shows us a thing or two by cranking out a very less-than-conservative bash last Friday night.  One last point.  Why toga?  Because it's a celebration of life.  Just throw what the heck cloth over your shoulder and enjoy life with no worries about what the other guy might think.  Hope this won't be the last.

Thanks again to all of those that helped make this happen.  And remember, if you've got some time to spare, come on out and spend some time with the kids at Sung Ae Won.  They'll love you for it!  Until next time -- C2